


Eighteen Months and Ten Days

by BlueNightOwl



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce is not a good parent, Don't copy to another site, He blows off a bit of steam, and he kind of leaves Gotham, tim is angry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueNightOwl/pseuds/BlueNightOwl
Summary: Tim is angry. He is angry and fed up.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 156





	Eighteen Months and Ten Days

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, welcome to my second work in this fandom.  
> This time it’s me working through a bit of an upset that I’ve had for a while. If you would like to know more about that, there’s a note at the end for that.  
> There is swearing in this. If you don't like that please klick the return button.
> 
> Without further ado, have fun :)

** Eighteen Months and Ten Days **

Red still clouded his vision. Bile was in the back of his throat and his stomach burned with anger. But what had he truly been expecting? That the brat had had a change of heart overnight? That the fairies had come and fulfilled his most burning desire to be able to feel at peace and welcome in the manor? - None of that would ever happen! Not even after more than five years of that little bastard being away from his mother and the League. Most certainly not with Bruce, Dick and Alfred and their “poor little child just needs some time to warm up to you, Timmy”-hands-off-approach of raising the little maggot! He should just do it like Jason and Cass and only come back to this hell-hole of a city when he is called in for some kind of world ending bull. He has long since stopped trying to understand what Steph saw in the brat and her insistence that he try and be nice to him had finally destroyed any residual romantic feelings he had had for her.

Footsteps sounded behind him. Not one set, but two. Great! Superb! Ladies and gentlemen may the Batcave Drama Group present: The second act of the night’s performance of “The brat that enjoys emotionally torturing Timothy Jackson Drake and the fucking assholes that don’t give a shit about stopping the fucking abuse”: “I make no mistakes and am always right” Bruce Wayne and “You are not a child, act your age” Richard Grayson will team up to make Timothy Jackson Drake even more miserable and lecture him about not taking the poor, poor child seriously, because he didn’t mean it like that and he is still getting used to everything. - It appears that we will have to do without the grandly performed “I am sorely disappointed in you, Master Timothy”-eyebrow lift of the spectacularly impartial Alfred-the-enabler Pennyworth. So upsetting folks. So upsetting.

He was so not going to participate in that shit-show this time.

“Tim, you stop this instant and go apologise to your brother,” he heard his former mentor bark at him.

Oh, he would stop, alright, but there would be no apology. He didn’t turn around. “You heard everything he said to me. EVERYTHING! And you have the fucking gall to tell me to apologise, when you know full well that he started it? When you know that I will  _ never _ get an apology from him for  _ that _ ?” His voice was shaking with suppressed rage. Rage at Bruce, at Dick, at Alfred.

He heard the heavy, oh so tired sigh Dick had adopted a while back when dealing with Tim. “Tim you are older than him, you know better than to listen to what he says. Damian is just a child. A very traumatised child, that needs our help and patience. How often do we have to go over that before you start acting your age? If you just showed him that you respect him and his place in this family, and, you know, that you loved him like the rest of us do, then he will eventually come around to you, too.”

That did it! - Normally he wouldn’t acknowledge them any further to avoid an argument and just walk away and be browbeat into an apology to them and the fucking brat a few days later by Alfred, but not tonight. He just couldn’t do this anymore!

Tim whirled around sharply, his fury so apparent on his face that the two other men actually stopped in their tracks. “Let me make a few things very clear to the both of you,” he hissed at them, “so that we will never have to have this fucking conversation ever again. One: while I have to accept the brat’s place in this family, I only do so because he will never leave again. Two: I have absolutely no respect for the little gnat! Why would I? - All he ever does is put me down. He insults me, he threatens me, he tells me no one needs me here, he tells me no one wants me here.” He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white, “and you know what the worst of that is? Do you? - The worst of that is that none of you ever tell either him or me otherwise! All of you have a favourite and it shows!”

“Don’t you fucking dare interrupt me now,” he snapped as Dick opened his mouth to try and get a word in, “the brat doesn’t deserve my respect when all he does is disrespect me. And love him? Are you serious Grayson? - I don’t love him. I despise his very existence. Why would I  _ ever _ feel anything positive for someone that is  _ that toxic _ to me! How you would ever think that I do is beyond me! You must be a special kind of delirious to believe that!”

“Tim,” a low growl, a warning from the big, bad bat. How adorable after what the brat had done to him tonight.

“No Bruce, you will hear this or you can do your own fucking job at Wayne Enterprises starting tomorrow,” he sneered. The fact that Bruce actually shut up and listened, apparently taking his threat seriously, instead of just steamrollering him wouldn’t hit him until the next morning. It wouldn't change his feelings.  


“But I actually can’t blame the brat for any of this, now can I? After all it was the two of you and Alfred that set him up for failure for the rest of his life.” And the confused and bewildered expressions on the other men’s faces actually made him smile. A nasty, too wide one, but a smile none the less.

“What are you talking about, Tim? We haven’t set him up for failure. He is just a little rough around the edges, he will mellow out with the love we give him. You know how badly he had been indoctrinated by the League,” Dick stammered out, trying to use the same old argument again. It made him even madder. Blistering, red-hot anger spread through his entire body, heating his face visibly.

He still managed to roll his eyes. “And that’s where you are wrong. His early childhood explains his behaviour and is reason to show more patience and lenience, but it is not an excuse anymore. Especially after spending more than five years in an environment where he has constantly been shown love, care and steadiness. What you all need to realise is that his horrible upbringing is not a reason to not set boundaries, to not explain what he did wrong and that it is especially not a reason for you to not discipline him when necessary!  He is a child, he is malleable. Why aren’t you using the time he is still young and learns the easiest to actually fucking teach him how to be a respectful human being?”

Dick tried to open his mouth again, “don’t you dare say  _ but Tim we are teaching him, he is so much better than he was when he came here. _ Give me a break!” Tim cut his brother of coldly, “you haven’t taught him anything. You expected him to become a nice, happy and loving kid by osmosis. That’s not how it works. Especially not with stuck up, self-important brats like Damian, that won’t learn what they don’t want to learn. - Has it helped him to become better in the past five years? - Yes it has.  
Has it helped him to the same extent that actual decent parenting, which includes disciplining him as necessary, would have helped him? - No, I don’t think so.  
Actually I find the thought that you believe that that fucked-up, hands-off raising method the three of you are employing for him is better for his poor sensibilities than actual directions and learning that actions have consequences, highly insulting to other parents of other difficult children.”

“Tim, you are being overly sensitive. Damian is not a bad kid,” Dick tried to sooth.

“Oh, for fucks sake! Damian is such a miserable asshole, he doesn’t have any friends that aren’t superheroes in the making. And even there the people that actually like him are sparse. Garfield banned him from Titans Tower, remember why? - And don’t get me started on his horrendous behaviour towards teachers and pretty much anyone that’s not you, Bruce or Alfred.  
And me being overly sensitive? - Are you both deaf and blind, Dick? Do I really need to walk you through what the brat did and said to me in the past three hours? - I might be twenty-two but I reserve the right to be fucking furious after all of that,” and he was close to screaming in frustration again.

“Have you gotten everything off your chest now? Are you ready to go apologise to Damian now or was there another point to this?” Why was that man the so called _greatest detective of all time_ again? Was that man deliberately trying to get Tim even madder than he already was? If he was, he was succeeding. And... suddenly the burning heat from his anger went cold, the need to scream and hiss turned into a quiet hum. A quiet, cold hum that told him to destroy and leave nothing intact. His mothers low voice whispering an age old lesson in his ear again the only thing keeping him from burning bridges right there and then.

“Eighteen months and ten days,” he said, loud and clear, feeling much calmer than he did the entire past day.

“Eighteen months and ten days and then what?” Neither Bruce nor Dick looked like they understood. Didn’t matter, he would tell them.

“Damian can have his apology in eighteen months and ten days.  _ If _ he conforms to my requirements.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed, “you don’t get to make demands. I am your father. If I tell you to do something I expect you to follow.”

“You are not my father. I have been no one’s child since my emancipation five years ago. You never protested it, never tried to change it. So you don’t get to try and play father to me. Especially since you can’t be bothered to do so to the only actual child under your care,” his reply was calmer then it would have been mere minutes ago, and it somehow seemed to have hit a nerve. If Bruce’s minute facial twitch was anything to go by.

“Do you even know what’s going to happen in eighteen months and ten days?” All he got was a pair of rigid faces. Not that he should have expected them to know. “Apparently you don’t.” He sighed, long suffering, “in eighteen months and ten days your precious little darling Damian is going to be the exact same age I was, when you all collectively decided that I was an adult and that you no longer needed to care about any kind of mental, physical or emotional scars that a child could possibly inflict on me.” He simply kept on speaking, even when Dick made to protest his claims, “I have decided that since that age counted as ‘adult’ to you it will also count as ‘adult’ to me. So I am giving you eighteen months and ten days to correct your past parental failures where it comes to teaching the boy that every action has consequences. I will not be around the child during that time so that my ghastly, misbehaving self doesn’t interfere with your proper, textbook parenting. Please also refrain from calling me for anything but actual world-ending affairs. I would hate to accidentally cause a set back for the poor boy.  
Then in eighteen months and ten days we can meet again, if he manages to clear the low bars for proper manners I’m going to set he will get his apology and all past transgressions will be forgotten. If he doesn’t... well to me he will be an adult, so he will reap what he has sown in the past five years. With interest. And there is a lot of interest waiting for him. So I hope for the boy that you don’t keep failing him as his parent and guardians.”

He basked in the tense silence for a moment and then turned around to leave. No one stopped him. When he sat on his bike, helmet on secure, he spoke up once more, but he didn’t turn around, Bruce didn’t deserve the attention “Bruce, you will be at the office on Monday. Ten o’clock sharp. You are going to take back the company, I’ve bled enough for you and your mission. I want a life that isn’t dedicated to your war. If you even think about not coming, because you want to show me who the boss is, I will tell you the following: there is a meeting with Lex Luthor at twelve o’clock, if you haven’t taken back your position by signing the papers by then, I  _ will _ sell your company. Remember: Luthor always makes an offer.”

He didn’t wait for a reply and drove of. He knew he had made his point.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the result of me being tired and having read some very nasty commentary regarding Tim’s behaviour towards Damian.  
> If you want to know what I think about that keep on reading; everyone else can skip to the tl;dr.  
> So yes, Damian is young and he was raised terribly. He is an insecure child that puffs himself up with disdain and bravado to cover that up. But he also has an enormous ego and thinks himself above all others. He also seems to have anger issues stemming from all of that. Yes, his previous upbringing means that patience and some lenience are required, BUT it also means that he needs a firm hand guiding him, one that doesn’t give up explaining and disciplining even if he gets it wrong for the thousandth time.  
> Brushing all of that behaviour off with an “he is just a child” is a recipe for disaster later in his life. Imagine a Rottie-puppy snapping at your fingers: you would correct that immediately because you know what’s going to happen if you don’t once that cute little thing weights in somewhere between 50 and 60 kg.  
> Obviously Damian is not a dog, but what I am trying to say is: why not correct wrong behaviour while people are still so much more forgiving for it, instead of suddenly having that adult asshole standing there and questioning where you went wrong.  
> And the verbal abuse Damian is spitting out and the overall violence need addressing.  
> On to Tim: what I hate even more is that the sentence “you are older, he is just a child” makes people think that Tim is a full grown adult. He is not. He is a teenager.  
> Who here remembers their teenage years? - Your body flat-out turning against you? The sudden fits of anger, joy or sadness for absolutely no reason at all? Feeling attacked when your mother wishes you a good morning? The overall mayhem that is your brain being a major construction site? Anyone? - Well I do. I also remember suffering from teenage insomnia. I remember what it’s like to have maybe two fitful hours of sleep at night and then to have to go through the entire day like nothing is wrong. I remember crashing for almost twenty hours straight at the weekend. Those were nine months of hell. And remembering that and knowing myself pretty well, I applaud Tim for being as reasonable as he is when it comes to Damian. Furthermore, all Tim ever got from Damian was the nasty side, the insults and the physical attacks, especially at the beginning.  
> And all of that isn’t even considering Tim’s own problems: years of emotional neglect, insecurity and abandonment issues and depression. His friends and family also had a habit of dying on him left, right and centre. That also left a mark. Tim’s scars might not be as visible to the eye as Damian’s but that doesn’t mean that he is emotionally stable, let alone any kind of OK.  
> Tim might be older than Damian, but he is no less a child. The brain only reaches maturity during the early twenties of ones life. Tim, in the comics, is roughly seventeen. He is a child not an adult, no matter how mature he seems. He is bound to react to the crap Damian spews one way or another.  
> These two deeply troubled kids put together might be an explosive combination, but one that can be handled by proper parenting. Now guess who is really at fault for those two getting as bad with each other as they got? - Exactly: the three adults in that giant manor that failed both of them spectacularly. They are the reason those two can’t get along for the life of them.  
> You see, why I hate people saying that Tim needs to ignore what Damian says, because Tim is older and Damian is a child?  
> It’s nothing but a disservice to both characters, it brushes off and makes light of what they and their problems really are and undermines any actual attempt at parenting the both of them together.
> 
> Ok rant over....  
> You know what I also hate? - Fanon coffee addict, chronically sleep deprived, none-eater Tim. Anyone who writes that and actually thinks he can survive as a vigilante doesn’t know just how quickly his body would fail him with that diet.
> 
> Tl;dr: I was tired and felt the need to work through a fit of upset caused by the sentence “Tim is older than Damian, he is just a child, and he needs to act his age.”
> 
> I hope I wasn’t too much of a drama queen with this one here and someone other than me actually enjoyed Tim snapping a bit at Bruce and Dick.  
> It certainly was a good outlet for me :)
> 
> BlueNightOwl out.


End file.
